Regulators Gone Wild: Porn Surfing’s Up at the SEC

WASHINGTON, D.C.—While to most Americans it might seem that the SEC has been asleep at the wheel for the last, oh, 8 years, it turns out that several of the federal regulators were indeed awake, though otherwise engaged with porn.

The Washington Times has the details, which are not quite as salacious as one might hope given the national coverage the story is getting or the alarming nature of the paper’s lede.

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“In the case of the regional supervisor,” writes Jim McElhatton, “the inspector general found that during a 17-day period, he received about 1,880 ‘access denials,’ wherein the computer system blocked his attempts to view websites that were deemed pornographic.”

Farther down in the story, McElhatton explains that access denials “are just one of several indicators of abuse that don’t reflect the actual number of times an individual seeks to view inappropriate sites."

“"In fact,” the paper quotes an unidentified person named Nestor as saying, “a single click onto one website that itself may not be blocked can trigger up to dozens of 'access denial' hits, one for each banner or ad on the Web page that might be blocked by our software, even if the individual has not clicked on to any of the banners or ads on that page."

Still, the regional supervisor was not the only one blowing off steam at the SEC.

“More than two dozen SEC employees and contractors over roughly the past two years have faced internal investigations after they were caught viewing pornography on their government computers, according to records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and other public documents,” reports the Times.

Despite recommendations by the inspector general that included dismissal of some of the offenders, no one has apparently been fired, though several have been suspended, and others resigned before they were disciplined.